Professor Jon Hoover

Visiting Professor in Islamic Intellectual History

Professor Jon Hoover is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Nottingham and Visiting Professor in Philosophy and Theology at The Classical Institute. He is a leading scholar of Islamic intellectual history, with particular expertise in medieval Islamic theology and philosophy, Christian-Muslim relations, and the thought of Ibn Taymiyya.

His research focuses on post-classical Islamic theology, especially debates concerning divine attributes, rational theology, and the relationship between philosophy and kalam. He is the author of Ibn Taymiyya’s Theodicy of Perpetual Optimism (2007) and Ibn Taymiyya (2019), and has published extensively in leading academic journals and edited volumes on Ashari theology, Mutazilism, philosophical theology, and interreligious intellectual exchange.

Professor Hoover’s scholarship is characterised by sustained engagement with primary texts in Arabic and close analysis of major figures including Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali, and Ibn al-Arabi. His work has contributed significantly to contemporary understanding of theological disagreement in the late medieval period, particularly between philosophical theologians and their critics.

Alongside his research, Professor Hoover has an established record of university teaching and supervision. At the University of Nottingham, he has taught across Islamic theology, philosophy, and Quranic and theological traditions, with a consistent emphasis on rigorous textual study and conceptual clarity. His teaching addresses foundational theological questions including epistemology, divine attributes, prophecy, and eschatology.

Before joining Nottingham in 2010, Professor Hoover taught Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut. He undertook advanced Arabic study in Cairo and completed his doctoral research at the University of Birmingham. These formative stages shaped his philological precision, historical sensitivity, and comparative approach to Islamic and Christian intellectual traditions.

Professor Hoover’s interdisciplinary formation and depth of scholarship align closely with The Classical Institute’s commitment to sustained engagement with the classical intellectual heritage. His appointment strengthens the Institute’s provision in philosophy and theology and reflects its dedication to teaching grounded in primary sources, intellectual seriousness, and academic integrity.